P175 - DEVELOPMENT OF NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND OTHER AREAS WITH LOW LITERACY RATES

P175

DEVELOPMENT OF NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND OTHER AREAS WITH LOW LITERACY RATES

M. Hasegawa^1,*, T. Sato¹, Y. Aoto¹, Y. takeishi², M. Hasegawa¹

¹Jissen Women's University, Tokyo, ²Kyusyu Institute of Infprmation Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan

Rationale: Nutritional assessment using the "drawing method" is effective in developing countries and other areas with low literacy rates.　There is an urgent need to develop a nutritional assessment tool that allows nutritional assessment without using language or letters.　In this study, we therefore developed a method that allows nutritional assessment by using the "drawing method" to represent dietary content in diagrams and pictures without using language or letters.

Methods: We developed a nutritional assessment chart using pictures and diagrams, and conducted a nutritional survey of residents living in a slum in Chennai, Western India, to assess their nutritional status. We conducted a nutritional assessment by asking residents with low literacy rates to describe in pictures what they ate, where, with whom, what, and how much they ate.

Results: It became clear that even people with low literacy rates can describe their dietary habits using pictures and diagrams. It was also suggested that describing dietary habits using pictures and diagrams would allow a clear understanding of the entire dietary life, i.e., where, with whom, what, and how much was eaten, leading to a direct nutritional assessment.

Conclusion: We would like to verify the validity and reproducibility of the "Drawing Methods" clarified in this study in other countries, especially in developing countries where literacy rates are low. We also plan to develop a nutritional assessment tool that can be used for preschool infants.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared